| Show I 1 after muttering lie ho was elie silent mo ono cried out oot guards and convicts were seemingly stupefied there was the hum of if machinery but not of voices convicts turned from forgo forge and anvil ond and bonali find and lathe and hold bold their breath the two shop guards leaned forward in their chairs and looked and looked but they did not move or cry out what will ho be do with the child the two men working at the trip hammer with big tom had bad fallen back he had bad control of tho the machinery which worked it the answer to tire question could be read iu in his eyes men had bad wronged him under cover corer of the law he bad been deprived of liberty degraded do and disgraced death were wera more merciful than such a sentence jig IH his and in dying ho be would secure revenge A piece of iron had bad been left under the hammer li ammer there was heard beard the sound of crash I 1 crash I 1 crash I 1 as the ho mass of iron rose and fell at regular intervals that sounded above the monotonous hum bum of the machinery he will thrust her under the hammer bammer 1 so thought each guard and each con vict so ho thought the father whose feet seemed chained to the floor and whose face was whiter than the dead oue orle of the guards could have touched a button and signaled the engineer to shut off steam but ho he did not move a hand band kither either guard had bad a fair mark to shoot at but their pistols were not lifted up and down up and down went the hammer but suddenly the bolt belt was thrown over on the loose pulley and tho the mass rested on tho the anvil it seemed roomed tu those who looked as if they had been looking through a mist such a mist as rises from earth of a summer morning it seemed to them that this mist thinned out cleared away before the influence of a rising sun and by and by they saw saliv the child nestling on big toms hairy breast one land hand smoothing his cheek and seeming to come from a long distance off they heard her childish voice saying no you hurt nellie you hurt nellie what makes you cry have you got a little girl too wont they lot you go home to see your little girl and the convicts advanced stop step by step and the guards crept forward and lo 10 lol I 1 big toms tears wore were falling as be hugged the child more tightly and kissed her fair hair and rosy cheek there was silence yet silence as ho be walked to arid and fro and wept and sobbed and lifted the child till she could clasp her tiny arms about his neck deck and rest her cheek against his not a whisper vb isper among the convicts not a move from father or mother or the guards by and by big tom placed the child in its fathers arms wiped the tears from his eyes on the sleeve of his striped jacket and with a god bless the little dar darling lingl 1 and a thank yo ye sir sirl I 1 lie he returned to his work and the hammer was lifted and held in waiting for the hot iron to be placed on the anvil beneath the guards motioned for the other convicts to go back to their beric benches bes and forges and a minute later the visitors had bad gone and work was in full blast blas t the long expected outbreak had bad come and gone for 30 seconds big tom had bad felt such cuch a raging hate bate in his soul that helas he was transformed into a human devil the child had smiled into his burning eyes her soft touch had lulled him her words had bad brought back his reason was he punished no not I 1 A year later be was pardoned and today aroot another ber fair haired blue eyed smiling broiling child puts her arms about his neck and says you are such a great big papa but you never hurt nobody would you detroit na free ea press |
